Tempting...

Yesterday was somehow the worst possible day that we could've picked to start this challenge.

A co-worker of mine recently gave his letter of resignation and yesterday was his last day. As is customary with employee's last-days, work had a lunch for him at The Iron Duke pub. We get there, I'm starving, and all I can think about is how I'm going to stuff my pie-hole with more sweet potato fries than any mere mortal has ever stuffed into any pie-hole anywhere...

I had the salad.

And the salmon wrap... Which I was actually rather disappointed in to be honest. The service was also bad and very slow but that's beyond the point.

I played baseball last night as well. The team we played was Boston Pizza, and there was a deal made: If we beat them, we get free pizza from Boston Pizza. So I'm thinking okay is this actually happening right now? We won. Originally I hadn't intended on going to BP but I drove home, dropped Lindsay off (apparently Big Brother is cooler than Boston Pizza.. who knew?) and made the trek out there.

So I get there, order a beer and start chatting it up. The pizza comes out, and it's amazing how you don't realize how much people want you to eat with them until you're not eating with them. I respectfully declined the free pizza and even after multiple attempts from a myriad of teammates, I didn't cave. Chalk a 'W' on the score-card for this guy.

About 15 minutes later I see a waitress carrying two plates of obviously-succulent, entirely-too-delactable deep-fried chicken wings. Then another waitress with two plates of Thai chicken bites. Then another waitress with a plate of nachos. It's like they know...

So after respectfully declining another round of really-friggin-awesome, I explained to my baffled teammates why I hadn't eaten anything from the pizza, two plates of wings, two plates of thai chicken bites and plate of nachos. They were actually really good about it.

I was also quite happy when I got home to have Lindsay tell me (with that cute look on her face... the one that melts your heart) that she threw out everything from our snack cupboard so she wouldn't be tempted to eat any of it. She ate broccoli and cauliflower instead. Wow.

Very difficult first day for both of us, but a win nonetheless.

Day one.

So, my girlfriend Lindsay and I have been planning this challenge for about 2 weeks now and here it is (for lack of a better name): The 100 day challenge.

The premise of the challenge is this: We've outlined, in signed contract form, a list of types of foods and restaurants that, for one hundred days, we will completely avoid. Partially to try and eat a little healthier but also because it's never a bad idea to set personal goals.

The only non-food stipulation in the contract is for me because I'm a smoker, and that is cigarettes.

Essentially, we must comply with the following rules:

Do not eat/consume:

1. Chocolate
2. Candies of any kind
3. Chips
4. Soda
5. Pizza
6. Deep-fried food
7. Cigarettes

With that said, we've also cut all fast food restraurants except Subway, Pita Pit and a select few things from Tim Hortons (Coffee, Soups and Bagels). Lastly, we've made it a rule that anywhere we do decide to eat out, all side dishes have to be a salad, baked or mashed potato, seasonal vegetable or rice.

Given our eating habits for the past year combined with my unfortunate love affair with cigarettes/cigars and Lindsay's love of chocolate, candies and chips... We both know that this is absolutely not going to be an a easy challenge. Not even a little.

Holy crap, here we go. Day One: September 1st, 2011.